Free range chicken pen, how high?

[tony49055]

I am getting ready to start building our chicken setup, we have a nice big pole barn to house the coop in, but my question, I want to make a good size chicken run, maybe 20 x 40 feet, how high should the fence be to protect them from predators? we do live in the country. what type of fencing is best? any help/pictures would be greatly appreciated!

Tony

 

[dandmflock]

We just built ours an from everything I have read 4ft high is plenty. My husband used pvc pipe to make a frame for the top an then ran 2in chicken wire over the top. We looked at buying plastic netting to go over the top that would of worked great but had plenty of chic wire left over to use. Good luck!

 

[carolinasculpture]

Do you have hawks in your area? Have to watch out for them, too!

 

[tony49055]

Ok, so the outdoor run will need to have protection over the top, Yes I am sure we have redtail hawks here.. I heard also you need to bury the fence an inch or so so nothing digs in

 

[emys]

How high is not necessarily important for keeping out predators. How strong is important.

For example: You could build a ten foot wall of chicken wire and it would be inadequate against racoons who will simply climb over, hawks who will simply fly over, stronger predators such as dogs and coyotes who will simply chew through it, and rats who could dig under it.

A safe run is built like a fort - usually with hardware cloth and hog or cattle panels. How high is more of a convenience. For cleaning you want it to be at least as tall as you are so you don't have to bend to get in there.

 

[emys]

Here is a link to a secure run with pics and tips.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=270088&p=1

 

[tony49055]

Thanks for the posts! thanks for the link emys! I see I will have to shorten my run and go for security...